1998年高考英语全国卷 - 阅读理解A

Today roller skating is easy and fun. But a long time ago it wasn’t easy at all. Before 1750 the idea of skating didn’t exist. That changed because of a man named Joseph Merlin. Merlin’s work was making musical instruments. In his spare time he liked to play the violin. Joseph Merlin was a man of ideas and dreams. People called him a dreamer.
今天的轮滑很简单也很有趣，但在很久以前，一点都不容易。1750年以前，滑冰的想法并不存在。因为一个叫约瑟夫·梅林的人，情况发生了变化。梅林的工作是制作乐器，业余时间他喜欢拉小提琴。约瑟夫·梅林是一个充满想法和梦想的人，人们称他为梦想家。

One day Merlin received an invitation to attend a fancy dress ball. He was very pleased and a little excited. As the day of the party came near Merlin began to think how to make a grand entrance at the party. He thought he would get a lot of attention if he could skate into the room.
一天，梅林收到参加化装舞会的邀请。他很高兴，也有点激动。当聚会的日子临近时，梅林开始考虑如何在聚会上大张旗鼓地入场。他想如果他能滑进房间，就会引起很多人的注意。

Merlin tried different ways to make himself roll. Finally he decided to put two wheels under each shoe. These were the first roller skates. Merlin was very proud of his invention and dreamed of arriving at the party on wheels while playing the violin.
梅林尝试了不同的方式滑动。最后，他决定在每只鞋下安装两只轮子，这是第一批滚轴溜冰鞋。梅林对自己的发明感到非常自豪，他梦想着一边拉小提琴，一边滑着去参加聚会。

On the night of the party Merlin rolled into the room playing his violin. Everyone was astonished to see him. There was just one problem. Merlin had no way to stop his roller skates. He rolled on and on. Suddenly he ran into a huge mirror that was hanging on the wall. Down fell the mirror breaking to pieces. Nobody forget Merlin’s grand entrance for a long time!
聚会当晚，梅林拉着小提琴滑进房间，每个人看见他都很惊讶。只是有一个问题，梅林没有办法停下他的溜冰鞋。他不停地滑动，突然，他碰到了挂在墙上的一面巨大的镜子。镜子掉了下来，摔成了碎片。很长一段时间没有人会忘记梅林的盛大入场！